POSTCARD : Some Historic Digs for the Volleyball Event

Constructed in 1703 to secure Russia’s hold on the Neva River delta, the Peter and Paul Fortress is said by some historians to have inspired Peter the Great to build his magnificent Window to the West, St. Petersburg, around it.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral within the walls is revered by monarchists because it is the burial site for the Romanovs. The body of one member of the royal family, Grand Duke George, recently was exhumed for tests to determine whether the remains discovered in a pit in nearby Yekaterinburg belonged to his cousins, Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra. If so, their bodies will be buried in the cathedral.

The Peter and Paul Fortress is also notorious as Russia’s Bastille, a prison where opponents of the Romanovs--from Peter’s own son, Czarevich Alexey to Lenin’s brother, Alexander Ulyanov, to Dostoyevsky--were incarcerated.

One can almost feel their misery and hear their cries on a tour of their cells.

Insistent upon somehow using the Peter and Paul Fortress as part of the Goodwill Games, organizers studied the sports and determined that the perfect match was--what else?--beach volleyball.

If Grand Duke George were still in his mausoleum, he no doubt would have turned over in it.

Actually, it is not such an odd coupling because there is a beach on the Neva River just outside the fortress walls. Attracting hundreds of sunbathers during the summer, it is not abandoned even during the winter, when foolhardy citizens, known as walruses, crack holes in the frozen river and swim in sub-zero temperatures.

And it is not as if the ground within the walls was sacred. One of the first structures seen upon entering the main gate is a small tourist shop that specializes in superimposing one’s photograph onto a T-shirt. There are several other kiosks that sell souvenirs, including a comb inscribed, “From Siberia with Love.”

Management has attempted to maintain decorum. A sign outside the fortress reminds visitors that it is prohibited to:

--Ride a bicycle.

--Play musical instruments.

--Walk upon the roofs of bastions.

--Ski or sled (in wintertime).

--Walk naked or wear bathing suits only (in summertime).

--Scatter rubbish.